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Chile Forum in English for Gringos, Expatriates, and Travelers to Exchange Ideas and Information about Chile, South America. For more than a decade, the Chile Forum has been the center for expats to share their collective knowledge and experience about living in Chile. The Chile Forum is a free community service brought to you by the law office of Spencer Global.

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He managed to alienate a good 30+ years of progress of the U.S. in Latin America, in less than 6 months. Guess what? The U.S. is not going to get it back any time soon.

The most problematic part is actually that there are no real, tangible gains to the bridges he is burning. Sacrificing alliances to make some sort of international play would be justifiable, if not specially strategic sound. However, burning bridges just for the sake of seing how bright they can burn seems kind of counterintuitive.

Soooooo....about two weeks ago Pumpkinhead picked a new chief of staff, a military guy, and there was a lot of speculation about how this would bring order and discipline to the White House. Yeah, right.

Then came the protest and counter-protest in Charlottesville. Pumpkinhead said nothing for a long time (waiting for all the facts, he explained later....which is entirely believable since he has such a stellar history of waiting for the facts before speaking....), then went off-script and made the problem worse. A lot worse. Incredible lack of control and discipline from the commander in chief of the largest military force on the planet.

On the bright side....the other institutions of government seem to be functioning normally and generally correctly despite the tragi-comedy in the White House. The Congress has forced the Prez´hand more than once, the military seems to be willing to delay on implementing his impulsive rants, state and local governments are looking out for their own. Outside of government, the press is vigilant (one could say over-zealous at times) and the business community has largely turned its back on him.

Pumpkinhead, the man who craves praise and attention, is more isolated and alone than ever, with very little credibility left, even within his own party. He still found a way to promote his own businesses, however, so his gut level instincts are intact.

Can he lead effectively? The answer is abundantly clear.....no, he cannot, so the world needs to learn how to move along without effective leadership in the White House. That's not entirely a bad thing.

I suppose this implies a shift towards the center for this administration. He might gain a few votes in Congress and in the general electorate, but he will also lose some of his most dedicated supporters.

IF Pence becomes president, it will result in a surge of fascism and interventionism.
I am not talking about what the left is presently calling "fascism", which is usually just an expression of free speech and opinions different than theirs.
I am talking about "traditional" fascism, as in intervention in people's lives; legislating morality; controlling society.
You think it is bad now. Just wait until Pence gets a hold of the reigns of power.
Pence is an elitist. He knows how you should run your life, and is not shy to use his power to enforce it, with all the power of the US government.
At least Trump, despite his craziness, is not an insider.
To use a metaphor: Pence has been so far into the swamp, for so long, probably forget dry land ever existed, and would not recognize it if he came upon it. And let's not forget the ability and instances of US Presidents (and US Congress) to project their morality on the rest of the world through US laws and perverting US "foreign aid".

Pence is a scary slick elitist. Notice how NO attack campaign against Trump has ever had Pence's name involved? A known neocon neoliberal perhaps scarier than Hillary.

The removal of Trump might also set the way for US Civil War II.

Bring it on, hopefully one has secured ass and assets and can sit back with some Chile grown popcorn with Cahuil sea salt topped with artesanal non-pasteurized butter from el sur and a wholesome local beverage of one's choice.

Generally, just a SPAM KILLER. You are on your own in this forum. My personal mission here is done.

BUT when necessary, by way of ridicule and truth revelation we shalt do war.

Some of his die-hard supporters are learning the hard way, since the prez now seems more open to the idea of working wth Dems. Raising the debt ceiling, funding emergency aid for hurricane victims and now there's talk of letting the DACA immigrants stay in the US.

The result....his base now feels betrayed and they are burning their "Make America Great Again" hats....

The above link opens a video, showing various MAGA hats on fire, and the commentator makes the point that the prez already got their vote, and he already got their money for a dumb hat....so he'll be just fine.

Maybe Pumpkinhead is thinking that he can pivot to the center. Maybe he wants to try being an Arnold Schwarzenegger type of Republican. Maybe he thinks folks will forget his offensive tactics and clear demonstrations of instability and incompetence. Maybe he thinks that everyone flits through life like he does with a 15-second attention span and no memory of what happened yesterday. He's wrong. Most people in leadership positions learn faster and pay more attention to details than he does. And they remember.